Many entrepreneurs learned during the pandemic that they should diversify their businesses to have more than one source of income. Disruptions in the supply chain highlighted this situation as lockdowns caused suppliers to miss delivery deadlines.
While the health crisis caused many businesses to falter, those that survived should work on diversifying to ensure they have more sources of income in case another crisis comes. Here are some tips on how businesses can diversify even before the pandemic ends.
Offer Digital Products
Businesses can look into offering digital versions of their products so they can offer them online. For instance, a fitness gym can offer online fitness classes to customers who want to stay home rather than visit the gym.
They can also hire a developer to create an app for them and encourage their customers to download the app. This will allow the customers to stay connected and watch pre-recorded fitness videos that they can follow anywhere they are. Fitness providers can earn from ads that they run on the app aside from the subscription to their service.
Businesses that offer products can also use digital marketing to sell their products online. Similarly, this allows them to stay in touch with their market even though they do not visit their physical store. The type of business determines the kind of digital product they will offer. The key here is staying in touch with the market and continuing to sell even if people do not go out of their homes.
Explore Other Opportunities
Businesses can also look for other opportunities in the market. These new opportunities may be connected to their main product or service offerings. They can also offer new products and services that have a demand in the market. Businesses can also consider running a franchise.
With the current situation, businesses can look into janitorial franchise opportunities. These franchises offer significant potential with more companies starting to require their employees to work onsite. This type of business can fill a potential demand to keep these offices tidy and clean, which is important during a pandemic.
And since it is a franchise, the business owner only needs to pay for the franchise fee, study the system, and run the business. While running franchises do not require much work from the owners, some franchises may need them to monitor the business to ensure everything is done properly.
Offer a Subscription Service
Businesses that have a customer base can also start a subscription-based service. While this type of business is suitable for businesses offering services, product-based businesses can also design a model where the customer can receive a certain number of products each month, depending on their subscription.
Aside from maintaining its connection with its customers, the business can look forward to regular sales each month due to the subscription. For instance, a business selling nutrition products can maintain its monthly sales level through the subscriptions of its customers.
Listen to the Needs of the Market
Listening to the needs of the market is a good way for businesses to know the opportunities that they can take advantage of. It also allows the business to adapt to the needs of their customers and entice new customers to buy their products.
Businesses can conduct surveys and get feedback from customers about the things they want to see in the market. They can post surveys on the website or social media pages. They can also use their mailing list to get feedback from their customers.
Once they collate the data, businesses can make the necessary changes or set up a new line of products and services to meet these needs.
Consider Affiliate Marketing
Another option that businesses can consider is affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is a marketing model where companies compensate publishers for promoting their products and services. Publishers receive a percentage of the sale if a customer buys the products or services through the link they used for promotion. Businesses can use this method to increase their reach into the market.
Aside from using publishers to promote their products, businesses can also promote the products and services of other businesses that are not their competitors. They can use their network to create another source of income aside from their products and services.
For instance, a fitness gym can promote the products of a fitness equipment manufacturer. Similarly, a restaurant can promote the products of a kitchen appliance manufacturer. Each time they sell using their links, they get a commission from the manufacturers.
Businesses should diversify so they’ll have several sources of income. This allows them to stay afloat in case something happens to their main revenue source.
